It's the beginning of the fall season and each recent morning has brought a visitation by this guy. This morning he decided he was going to take a bath in our pond. I stepped out on the deck next to the pond and shooed him away. He climbed the hill above the pond, then stopped part way up and gave me the evil eye. Eventually he hunkered down, hoping we'd go away so he could take his morning bath. When he finally decided we weren't going to let him in the pond he lumbered on up the hill toward our neighbors' house.

We used to live in Sierra Madre, California. It's a little town that is unfortunately attached to LA. It's right up against the San Gabriel Mountains and bears would frequently come into town. Our neighbors had a bear that was a regular visitor to their hot tub. I don't know if it ever learned to work the controls, but it sure enjoyed the experience. There was a list going around by email a couple of years ago; You might be from Colorado if . . . One was; You might be from Colorado if you think finding a black bear on your back porch is normal. My favorite was; You might be from Colorado if you have $5,000 bicycle on top of a $600 car.

That's a young bear. He probably hasn't been on his own for too long. You can tell by the size of his ears. They look big compared to the overall size of his head. If you could take that same photograph in three years, you'd be able to place it with a stock agency. Mature, wild black bears are difficult to photograph and most people who get good shots are either lucky or have worked hard at it for some time. You have a very good background. Most mature black bear photos you see published have come from game farm photo shoots. Coastal browns are much easier to photograph since there are established places where you can count on finding them. Black bears on the other hand are solitary and secretive.

With the drought we'll soon be getting a lot of bears in the residential parts of Albuquerque that abut the mountains. I've been scouting relatively wild locations still in the city, have seen a pond-bear sized example and a pretty big adult in just the last few days in places I have never seen them before. Also several beautiful but way-too-tame deer, I've been throwing rocks at them because of bow hunting season.